


working backwards till it rhymes

by unrequitedangst



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Fluff, Humor, M/M, the inherent absurdity of young love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:14:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26975008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unrequitedangst/pseuds/unrequitedangst
Summary: "Just so you know, Osamu, our anniversary's coming up," says Suna."Anniversary, huh," Gin says, raising an eyebrow.  "Congrats, man, took the two of ya long enough."What the hell, Osamu thinks.Anniversary?
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s), Miya Atsumu/Sakusa Kiyoomi, Miya Osamu/Suna Rintarou
Comments: 47
Kudos: 735
Collections: SunaOsa, SunaOsa Week 2020, osasuna





	working backwards till it rhymes

**Author's Note:**

> Written a little belatedly for day 1 of #SunaOsa week (anniversary).
> 
> Thanks to [panpipe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/panpipe/) for listening to me whine incessantly about my arte as I wrote this over the past few days. You're the best, bb. ♥

"Just so you know, Osamu, our anniversary's coming up," says Suna, first thing at Monday morning practice.

It's early enough in the morning that Osamu's brain is barely functioning. In the few heartbeats it takes Suna to jog up to the corner where Osamu and the other third years are stretching, the only things Osamu manages to process are _weird, Sunarin's actually at practice early_ , and then the flush in Suna's cheeks from running, the sharp, pretty planes of Suna's face.

"Oh, okay," says Osamu, then, "Wait, what?"

His question comes too late: Suna's already jogged out of earshot to continue running laps. For all that Suna's lazy as hell, he's still one of the faster runners on the Inarizaki team. Osamu stares after Suna's retreating back, then at the other stunned third years, then back again after Suna.

"Anniversary, huh," Gin says, raising an eyebrow. "Congrats, man, took the two of ya long enough."

Kosaku doesn't say anything, only glances after Suna and then at Osamu before shrugging disinterestedly and returning to his stretches. Atsumu makes up for Gin and Kosaku's relative calm by jumping to his feet, dramatically grabbing Osamu's arm, and shrieking, "What the _hell_ , 'Samu, yer the worst fuckin' brother in the world, why'm _I_ the last to know?" directly into Osamu's ear at deafening volumes.

 _What the hell_ , Osamu thinks. _Anniversary?_  
  


* * *

  
Morning practice goes by at a snail's pace.

Atsumu, apparently convinced that Osamu has been holding out _something_ on him, demands his twin spend the entire practice receiving his serves and that Suna teach the most hopeless of the team's first years how to read block, while Gin manages the rest of the team.

This makes no sense at all for a number of reasons. The first of these is that Suna is a notoriously bad teacher. His default response to any question asked is inevitably a blank stare and shrug, followed by a blunt 'figure it out yourself' or 'that should be obvious'. Also, the first year that Atsumu assigned to Suna is a libero, not a middle blocker.

It also makes no sense because Gin is neither the team captain (that's Atsumu), nor the team vice-captain in name (that's Suna), nor the team vice-captain in practice (that's Osamu, because Atsumu and Suna both dump the most boring responsibilities they don't want to deal with on his shoulders). But fine, whatever. Osamu learned a long time ago that trying to make sense of his twin's thought processes is the beginning of a slow, steady decline into madness, and he also doesn't particularly want to be the one leading the team through endless spiking drills, so.

The trouble is, Atsumu's focus today is absolute shit and so is Osamu's, which makes the entire experience of receiving his serves rather harrowing since Atsumu is capable of hurling volleyballs at speeds in excess of a hundred twenty kilometers per hour. The one time Osamu glances over to the gym corner where Suna and their idiot first year are practicing, so does Atsumu, and his spike serve nearly takes off Osamu's head in the process.

Osamu has to take a couple moments after that to (1) not die, (2) not get concussed, and (3) not strangle his idiot of a twin that he should have _eaten in the womb_.

By the time morning practice is over, Osamu is already exhausted and classes haven't even started yet.

He probably misheard what Suna said, Osamu thinks. He must have. It's just Suna. People always think Suna's quiet, and he is, but once he starts talking, sometimes he'll say the _weirdest shit_.

Anyway, Osamu hasn't been sleeping well lately, what with worrying about the future and whether he should go to culinary school or get a business degree or even attend college in general or what, and how to tell Atsumu or his parents about any of it. The stress has been giving him bizarre dreams.

Last week, Osamu dreamt that he had to make inarizushi for the Prime Minister of Japan and Kita-san's granny, all while dangling over a pit of molten lava.

Compared to _that_ , hallucinating Suna saying weird things is relatively tame.

The rest of it, Osamu figures, must be his brain trying to make sense of whatever he hallucinated, and Atsumu's weirdness is either some shared twin hallucination or 'Tsumu being _'Tsumu_.

Except that after practice, Suna drapes himself over Osamu (which is not unusual), close enough that his breath is literally tickling Osamu's neck (which is unusual), and then murmurs, "Don't forget about it, okay?" directly into Osamu's ear (completely uncharted territory) before letting go and slouching off in the general direction of the Inarizaki classrooms.

 _What_ , Osamu thinks, staring after Suna. His face feels feverish, like he's burning up from the inside out. _What the hell just happened._  
  


* * *

  
None of Osamu's teachers call on him all morning, which is good, because their lectures might as well be in English for all he manages to comprehend.

One perk of being a starter for a number two seeded team is that nobody reads much into it if Osamu's checked out during class. Half the time, people assume he's thinking deep thoughts about volleyball. The other half of the time, people either assume he's Atsumu (because they can't remember which hair color goes with which twin), or that he's thinking about something that Atsumu did (because they do remember which hair color goes with which twin, which means they're well enough acquainted with the twins to know precisely how infuriating Atsumu is).

The truth is that usually he's thinking about lunch (if it's in the morning), or his after-school snack (if it's in the afternoon).

Osamu doesn't even _think_ about lunch all morning.

That's how much this whole thing has shaken him. His entire head is nothing but an anxious blur of _anniversary?_ and Gin's voice saying, _took the two of ya long enough_ and the memory of Suna's breath hot on his neck, the responding weird twist low in the pit of his belly.

It's ridiculous that this in particular is what he fixates on, Osamu knows, and not the fact that he is apparently -- something -- with Suna, nor the fact that all of their friends are completely unsurprised by this _something_ status, whatever it is.

The thing is, Suna's breathing -- or drooling, even -- on Osamu is a matter of routine. The flipside of Suna's ever-present insomnia at every single training camp and away game is that Suna crashes hard on the return bus, which usually means stealing Osamu's shoulder as a pillow. Osamu's used to it by now.

Osamu's used to lots of things by now.

They're best friends, after all; they've been best friends for half of middle school and all of high school so far. They've spent countless hours on a volleyball row together, crashing into each other during blocks; they've done homework together, stolen food off each others' plates together, ganged up on Atsumu together.

On multiple occasions, Osamu has even fallen asleep watching movies in Suna's tiny, uncomfortable bed, only to wake up with Suna's long, lanky limbs starfishing over and intertangled with his own.

Here is the thing, though: Osamu has literally kissed Suna before, and things were fine after. There's no reason why this should be any different. There's no reason this event in particular should be stuck in his head like this, rattling around anxiously next to Gin's _the two of ya_ , the warmth of Suna's weight against his shoulders, the utter lack of Kosaku's surprise.

(Actually, now that Osamu thinks about it, it's probably not _that_ normal to have made out with your best friend.

In Osamu's defense, the first Inarizaki joint training camp of the year had gotten a bit wild between the on-off thing Kosaku has with the girls' volleyball team captain, multiple people on the boys' and girls' teams smuggling in booze, and the lack of a responsible Kita-san or Aran to prevent the camp's last night from disintegrating into one long drunken game of seven minutes in heaven.

( It was fine afterwards. They were drunk. Everyone does stupid shit when they're drunk. Osamu made out with Suna, and Riseki threw up in Gin's futon, and Atsumu rambled about the beauty of Itachiyama's receives for literally two hours nonstop. These are all things that happened.

These are all things that happened, and the next day everyone got over them, and it's not something any of them have thought about since.

( Osamu certainly doesn't, except every so often when he catches a particular amused look in Suna's eyes, the sharp contrast of gray-green eyes against dark eyelashes and pale skin, the way Suna's mouth quirks when he's successfully manipulated an opposing team's blockers. ) ) )

 _What the hell_ , Osamu thinks. It makes no sense that something this small should seem so much more significant than all the things that came before.  
  


* * *

  
Usually Osamu eats lunch with Suna, sometimes with Gin and Kosaku and Atsumu if they've got volleyball stuff to talk about, sometimes without if he and Suna don't want to deal with 'Tsumu's dramatics. They had plans today to discuss the team's first years, so the whole group should be meeting up by all rights, but--

It's ten minutes into their lunch period already, Osamu realizes, and his classmates are giving him weird looks because he's still sitting at his desk when he's almost always the first person out the door when lunch begins.

This is fine, Osamu thinks. Suna's a smart guy, grades notwithstanding, and he's always been particularly smart about people. It's what makes Suna such an effective middle blocker: his ability to understand and manipulate what it is complete strangers on the court think of him.

Suna's been able to get inside the heads of the top high school volleyball players in Japan during the timespan of half a set. He and Osamu have been best friends for almost five years at this point. It's not like Suna won't understand if Osamu explains things properly. 

But thinking about it now--

"Don't worry, I can run interference for ya if ya want some peace an' quiet," Gin says, appearing behind Osamu and interrupting his thoughts so abruptly that Osamu nearly levitates in panic.

"I always want peace an' quiet," Osamu says reflexively, then, "run interference with what?"

"Atsumu's been freakin' out in class all mornin'." Gin makes a face. "Just thought ya might want to get a break from it for lunch since ya gotta deal with him at practice and home anyway."

"Ugh," says Osamu. He's got enough problems of his own without dealing with Atsumu.

"Yeah," Gin says, sighing. "Kosaku an' I told him he was bein' a moron an' you probably told him like a hundred times already an' he just didn't pay attention, but he's been goin' on and on all mornin' about how ya betrayed your sacred twin bond or whatever--"

"What the fuck," says Osamu. " _What_ sacred twin bond?"

(Osamu does realize this is not the part of what Gin said that he should be focusing on, but he just can't let this slide. Seriously _what_.)

"Hell if I know," Gin says, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, I know we were all plannin' t'eat together today, but it’s not like we can’t do that anytime, so -- do the two of ya want us to distract him? Kosaku was thinkin' we could ask Atsumu why Oikawa Tooru's jump serves are so much better than his or somethin', that'll buy a bit of time."

 _The two of ya_ , Osamu thinks. "It's not-- weird?"

"I mean, I _guess_ we could ask Atsumu about Iizuna instead, but then he'll probably start talking about Itachiyama in general, so--"

"No, I mean, like. Me an' Suna," Osamu says. He feels like an idiot. "The whole, uh, the whole thing, it's not weird for you guys?"

"Not really?" Gin looks puzzled. "I mean it's a little weird y'guys took so long, but it's your relationship so it's your own business who ya want to tell. Pretty much the whole team 'cept Atsumu figured it out forever ago because the two of ya're pretty obvious."

"Obvious," Osamu repeats. He feels like he's living through some bizarre fever dream.

"Yeah, I mean, I didn't know the two of ya in middle school or anythin', but even back in first year you guys were all-- y'know. The two of ya're always off together eatin', or starin' at each other, or sittin' on the roof in dead quiet without sayin' anythin', or whatever it is the two of ya crazy kids do on yer dates. An' you make food for him an' only him all the time, plus there was that whole trainin' camp thing, so--" Gin shrugs. "We all figured you were keepin' it low key so Atsumu didn't feel so bad about that Itachiyama guy shootin' him down."

 _Does the entire team seriously think we're dating?_ Osamu thinks, dazed.

The thing is, it isn't that Osamu hasn't thought about the possibility of the two of them before, because he has. He's thought about it. He's thought about it a lot.

He thinks about it every time they jostle elbows eating kombini snacks together; every bus ride Suna falls asleep on his shoulder; every single time he's seen someone make a fool of themselves only to find Suna in the background, phone out and smirking, documenting the entire thing for posterity.

It's just that Suna is his best friend, and Osamu doesn't know what he'd do if something went wrong and that went away. If Suna doesn't like him, the same way he likes Suna, if somehow the act of dating made things weird between the two of them and cancelled out all the years before.

When he'd kissed Suna before, he'd liked it more than he wants to admit, Osamu knows, the way Suna's mouth had opened eagerly beneath his, the sounds he'd made, the way Suna had leaned into him, just, all of it. For a moment then Osamu had thought, _maybe_ \--but then the next morning he'd remembered all the ways it could go wrong and all the reasons it was a bad idea.

The flood of relief in his chest then when Suna had acted no different -- like they weren't anything less than they had been before, but also not anything more either -- had somehow been the best and worst thing in the world all at once.

"--think, man?" Gin is saying. From his expression, it's clear this isn't the first time he's said it.

"Uh," Osamu says. "Sorry, what?"

"D'you want me an' Kosaku to keep Atsumu occupied for a bit? It's cool if you don't want us to, but we figured y'could use the break since yer his brother and Sunarin's his vice-captain so it's not like you don't already have to put up with him enough already."

On the one hand, Osamu knows, this is the perfect moment to correct this entire series of misunderstandings as soon as possible before gossip spreads and things get even more out of control than they already are.

On the other hand, a quiet lunch without Atsumu wailing dramatically about sacred twin bonds sounds ... extremely appealing. It's not like it'll make a difference if Osamu corrects matters now versus later, anyway.

"That'd be great, actually," Osamu says. "Thanks, man, I -- me 'n Suna -- uh, we, we really appreciate it."

"Yeah, no problem," says Gin. "Hope the two of you have a great anniversary or whatever."

 _What the hell_ , Osamu thinks. _Does literally **everyone** think we're dating?_  
  


* * *

  
When Osamu finally tracks Suna down, he's on the rooftop of the school. The only food in sight is a half-eaten bag of _senbei_ , which he reaches out to periodically. Suna looks tired, dark circles under his eyes and hair a complete mess; he's got an open energy drink in one hand, and is using the other hand to flick quickly through something on his cell phone.

Objectively, Suna is attractive. Osamu knows this in the same distant, removed way he knows Kita-san is graceful, and Akagi is cute, and Ginjima without-a-shirt-on has seriously impressive abs. Osamu's not 'Tsumu, he doesn't need to get dramatic about people's 'tousled black curls' and 'eyes dark as midnight' like he's writing a whole ass dorama script all on his own.

It's still a surprise every time Osamu's faced with the reality of it, Suna's eyes and cheekbones and mouth, the bored, awkward slouch, the sharp smirk and fox-bright look Suna gets only when he's found something he thinks is interesting. Something in Osamu's chest twists tight, watching Suna now.

"Oi," Osamu says at last, "is that seriously the only thing you're eating?"

Suna glances up, then back down at his phone. "I like _senbei_."

"Yer gonna get scurvy if ya don't eat proper food," Osamu says. The familiar patter of banter is somehow soothing. "Plus all that caffeine's gonna stunt yer growth."

"I'm literally 185 centimeters tall," Suna says. "But please, tell me more about my stunted growth."

"Imagine how tall you'd be if ya didn't drink all that caffeine," Osamu retorts, and sits, opening his bento and shoving some _tonkatsu_ in Suna's direction. It's a familiar argument, with a familiar resolution: Osamu likes cooking, and Suna doesn't, so the obvious solution is to make large enough portions to share. It's not like Osamu can't eat the leftovers himself on those rare occasions that Suna makes a lunch beyond energy drinks and the first snack bag at hand in his parents' kitchen.

They eat in comfortable silence for several minutes, and though it should be awkward, all things considered, it's not. Osamu can feel his nerves starting to unfray once he's got some good food in his stomach.

What does Osamu have to worry about? It's Suna, after all, the same person who's been his best friend since they were both fourteen, the same idiot who once gave himself a black eye because he fell asleep holding his phone above his head and then dropped it.

It's Suna, who drinks caffeine like it's a replacement for blood and then bitches that he can't sleep; Suna, who is lazy and cuts corners when he knows the team will win anyway; Suna, who is all deadpan humor and lack of facial expressions and loves schadenfreude.

It's just Suna. It's all just Suna.

"Sunarin," says Osamu. "I -- can we talk for a second?"

When Suna glances up from his phone at Osamu, his eyes are gray-green with flecks of gold. Osamu knew this -- knows this -- has known it for a long time, but the confirmation of it is still a gutpunch surprise.

"Sure," says Suna. "What about?"

 _Just so you know, our anniversary's coming up_ , Osamu hears like an echo in the back of his mind, and then, Gin's voice saying, _sittin' on the roof in dead quiet without sayin' anythin', or whatever it is the two of ya crazy kids do on yer dates._

"Suna," he starts, and then stops again. "Sunarin. Rintarou."

"Osamu. Miya Osamu," Suna says, voice even. "I didn't realize we were sitting here repeating each other's names."

"Sunarin, yer my best friend."

"Thank you," Suna says, inflectionless. His face is utterly blank, the same look Osamu's seen a thousand times on the other side of the net. "Was that all you had to say?"

 _It's just Suna_ , Osamu thinks, staring at the awkward way Suna's holding his shoulders, tense and defensive like he's waiting for Osamu to spike a ball he needs to block. It's a sharp contrast to the way Suna looked at morning practice, the easy way he draped himself over Osamu's neck then. Suna's thought about this conversation before, Osamu realizes, prepared himself for it, and then suddenly it all clicks because at the end of the day Suna is a middle blocker who thinks about the way other people see him--

"Ya know it's not our anniversary," Osamu says. "Y'knew all along that we aren't datin'."

"Technically, the only thing I said was that our anniversary was coming up," Suna says, and sinks deeper into his slouch, shoulders hunching. "I didn't say anything about what kind of anniversary it was."

"Rin," Osamu says. "If ya wanted to date, you could've asked. I-- Why can't you just confess like a normal person?! I've been goin' crazy all mornin'--"

"It wasn't exactly fun for me either," Suna snaps. "Do you know how early I had to get up this morning to make sure I came in before you and Atsumu? I drank so much caffeine that I am literally _vibrating out of my skin_. And then you looked so freaked out after practice, like--"

"-- yeah, 'cause you made me think I was some total asshole who was about to break your heart --"

"I know we aren't dating," Suna says, flatly. "But confession's a two way street. I figured I'd make it easy for you, is all. Do you know how obvious I've tried to be? Do you think I just let the entire team sleep in my bed, or snuggle up to everyone on the bus? Did you know that you and Atsumu are literally the only people I've ever invited to my apartment? Do you see me hanging off Riseki or Kosaku all the time? I thought after I made out with you at training camp, you'd get a clue, but it's been _months_ \--"

"Yer my best friend, Rin," Osamu says. "I didn't-- I don't want things to change."

"Okay," says Suna. His face is very still. "That's fine then. All I wanted was an answer."

From somewhere on the ground, Suna's phone vibrates, one time, two times, three. Neither of them look at it.

It's Suna. It's just Suna. And practically everyone thinks they're dating already.

"I didn't want things to change because you're my best friend and I was scared," Osamu says. "But I didn't realize they already had, an' I like how things are now, so-- I suppose nothin' has to change, really, so long as you tell me when this anniversary we're supposed to be celebratin' is."

Suna freezes. It's funny, the way he tilts his head to one side, stunned, like Osamu's just stolen the court floor from beneath his feet. "Wait. What are you saying."

"I like you, Sunarin," Osamu says. "That's my answer. You're my best friend an' I like you, an' I've liked you for a long time. I'd ask if ya want to go out with me, but apparently we already are, so I guess what I should ask is if you want to keep goin' out?"

"Um, I," Suna says, staring at Osamu. "I-- I'll admit I hadn't thought this far ahead."

"Me neither," Osamu admits. "But I'd be okay with figurin' it out together."

"I'd be okay with that," Suna says at last, smiling. His face is flushed, but his eyes are bright, and then he actually starts _giggling_ , and Osamu can't look away. His chest feels light and airy, buoyant like a perfectly risen souffle.

He wants to see Suna like this always, he realizes, because it's Suna.

"It's just--" Suna chokes out at last in between giggles, "this is so backwards, you know? We did the making out before the anniversaries, and the anniversaries before the asking out."

"Well, what the hell," says Osamu. "I guess I'm okay with that if you are too."  
  


* * *

  
" _Sunarin_ ," Atsumu breathes at the beginning of afternoon practice, flopping dramatically onto a locker room bench to sit beside Suna. It's the first time he's managed to corner Suna all day, and Osamu can tell his twin means to make the most of it.

From the doorway, Osamu can see Gin's apologetic shrug and Kosaku's dramatic eyeroll. He nods at them and smiles a little to let them know it's okay. There's no one in the world who knows better than Osamu how difficult it is to contain Atsumu, and Osamu's too happy now to get worked up about it anyway.

" 'Tsumu," says Suna, deadpan. "Did you have something you wanted to ask?"

"Yer my vice-captain, y'gotta help me out here. How long've ya been keepin' 'Samu's secrets for him?"

"Pretty much since the moment we met," Suna says, raising an eyebrow.

"No, but for _real_ , how long've the two of ya been datin' if the two of ya're already at the stage of anniversaries?"

"Long enough," Suna says, raising both eyebrows now. "Why, you want some tips to help you woo Itachiyama?"

" _Sunarin_ ," Atsumu howls.

It's only because Osamu knows what to look for that he can spot the curl of amusement in the corner of Suna's mouth, the same bright look in his eyes as when he's successfully fooled the opposing team's blockers. Osamu stares at him, the dark messy hair, the sharp, pretty face, and then Suna looks back at him and smiles for real this time, out in the open for everyone to see.

 _What the hell_ , Osamu thinks to himself, and smiles back. _What the hell, I have a boyfriend._  
  


* * *

* * *

  
  
  
( **OMAKE:**

"Wait, so is _today_ supposed t'be our anniversary, or--"

"No, that's January 8th."

"Janua-- Interhigh? You picked the _Spring Interhigh_ for our anniversary? What the hell, Rin? That doesn’t even make sense!”

"I figured if we win this year, it'll be a cute story, and if we don't win, Atsumu will think we hooked up last Interhigh or something, and it'll drive him crazy that you got some action that much before him, so."

"... yeah, okay, January 8th sounds great.")  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! It's been a really long time since I've written any fic, so I hope I'm not _too_ out of practice and this was at least somewhat enjoyable ♥
> 
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/requitedangsted/)


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